Head Coach of Nigeria's men soccer Olympic team Samson Siasia expressed satisfaction about his team program ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, before the team departed Abuja for South Korea on Tuesday, local media reported Wednesday.
The national U-23 male football team which is one of Africa's three representatives in the August Games, left aboard a Doha-bound Qatar airline from Lagos.
The team will connect a flight from Doha to South Korea where it is expected to play at least three friendly matches.
The team will camp in Gwanywang, South Korea, and depart for China on Aug. 2, where they hope to also play a friendly.
Siasia said his team would have been well prepared for the Olympics.
"I am happy at the way things are going now and I must confess that the program we have ahead of us, especially the friend lies, will really help us as a team. First of all, it is good to have a look at the team through friend lies and that will offer us an idea of what to expect at the Olympics," he said.
He said the time they would have together, would enable them to concentrate and plan well on how to prosecute their games.
Nigeria is drawn in Group B and will begin their campaign with an Aug. 7 clash with Holland in Tianjin.
The team will take on Japan at the same venue on Aug. 10 and travel to Beijing for an Aug. 13 game with the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2008)